It was early Monday evening when Berilyn Capili and Ronnie Diaz decided to head to the hospital, just in case. Capili was a week and a half from a planned Cesarean section delivery, but her spotting and pain worried them both.

The sooner they checked it out and were released, they reasoned, the sooner they could leave.

“If it’s a false alarm, we get to hang out with our friends before midnight,” Diaz remembered thinking.

But the hours ticked off and the minutes wound down and the doctor decided the C-section needed to happen like, right now. There was a flurry of activity in preparation for surgery and then suddenly, the hospital staff began a countdown.

4-3-2-…

Here comes the baby, Diaz thought.

1! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A beat, maybe two or even seven and then … the sweet sound of tiny lungs belting out their first tiny cries.

“They were counting down right as they were pulling my son out,” said Diaz, who had briefly forgotten it was New Year’s Eve. “Everyone was pretty excited.”

Ronnie Diaz, weighing 5 pounds, 8 ounces and 18 inches long, was born at Ventura’s Community Memorial Hospital just as the clock welcomed 2019.

That makes him one of two first babies born in a Ventura County hospital in 2019. Their birth times were both 12 a.m.

Gilberto Ramirez, who was born at Adventist Health Simi Valley, also arrived as the clock struck 12. He was the first child for Perla Rubio and Joseph Ramirez.

Little brother arrives

Ronnie is the second baby for Capili and Diaz, and there was perhaps no one more excited to meet him than his big sister Loryn.

The second pregnancy was harder than the first. Chasing around a smart, inquisitive, energetic 2-year-old might have had been the cause for that, Diaz said.

The afternoon Ronnie was born, Diaz went to pick up his daughter, who was staying with Capili’s parents in Oxnard, to bring her to the hospital.

When she arrived, the toddler threw her arms open wide, saying: “I want to carry him. Can I carry him?”

After she grew settled and sat down, they placed Ronnie in his sister’s arms. She is eager to have him home so she can take care of him.

Ronnie Diaz holds his new son Ronnie, who was born at exactly midnight on New Year's Day.(Photo: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

Reunited and it feels so good

Capili and Diaz met as freshmen at Channel Islands High School and were friends, but never dated through school. It wasn’t until years after graduation that they reconnected. The Oxnard couple is well-matched.

“We know each other so well. We had the same goals when it came to a family, so it’s been great,” Diaz said.

Diaz, an engineer, owns a manufacturing company producing parts for race cars, while Capili works at home. Since his son’s surprise early arrival, Diaz had to pop out to check on some things and get work to take with him. But he plans to work less in these early days as the family settles into life as four.

The baby’s stroke-of-midnight arrival struck Diaz as funny. There’s a sort of competition among area hospitals to see which will deliver the first baby of the year. Diaz is himself quite competitive.